Brands are “shifting from one-time, short-term partnerships to long-term, recurring partnerships,” said Olivia McNaughten, senior director of product marketing and partnerships at the influencer firm Grin.

Influencer-marketing firm Fohr told BI it saw a 36% year-over-year increase in deal volume and a 47% jump in overall dollar value for those deals in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. Meanwhile, London-based marketing firm Billion Dollar Boy said it’s also seen strong growth, with deal volume rising 16% and revenue from deals jumping 89% in the first six months of this year compared to the first half of 2023.

Other agencies reported more modest growth in creator payouts for the first half of the year but projected similar enthusiasm about how influencer-marketing spending is trending in 2024.

“In general, compared to the first half of 2023, 2024 brand deals are healthy, and the volume of deals and creator payouts continue to grow,” Lindsey Lugrin, founder of the influencer-pay-transparency platform FYPM, told BI.

Influencer marketing remains a bright spot in the creator industry, whereas companies in other categories have struggled to grow. Creator startups in recent months have had to adapt to broader industry shifts, such as platform algorithm changes, with some turning to layoffs, restructurings, or fire sales. Influencer marketing, by contrast, is humming along, with billions of dollars expected to pour into the category this year. A recent report from Emarketer, for instance, projected that US marketer spending on sponsored content for social media will rise 16% this year to $8.14 billion.

The industry’s momentum in 2024 comes after a challenging couple of years when many brands trimmed ad budgets to save on costs as they braced for a recession that has yet to surface.

“The first half of 2023 was a dumpster fire,” said Fohr’s VP of Strategy, Grace Murray Vazquez. “This year, Q1 was our best ever.”

Long-term partnerships and multi-platform deals are in demand this year

Why is influencer marketing growing steadily when other parts of the creator economy have struggled?

As creators post content across TikTok, Instagram reels, YouTube shorts, and other platforms, marketers can now find actual scale on ad campaigns. That allows them to commit larger budgets to the category, experts told BI.

“The volume of syndicated brand deals has increased significantly,” said Emmy Petit, a former influencer marketer at Digital Voices who now works full-time as a creator. “Creators who are landing more partnerships all have the same thing in common; they post across multiple platforms, whether its Instagram reels syndicated to TikTok to YouTube shorts.”

Brands are also prioritizing longer-term partnerships with creators, who have leveled up the quality of their content and become more savvy at setting prices. Creators are getting a more serious look from brands than they’ve received in the past, even winning a dedicated track at this year’s Cannes Lions advertising festival and at South by Southwest. It’s why creators are charging higher rates for sponsored posts, several marketers, including Ansley Williams, head of influencer at Ogilvy North America, said.

“Great strides have been made in the sophistication of influencers’ work — becoming more like small businesses,” Williams said.

Influencer marketing may also be outperforming other creator-economy businesses because it taps into an existing market rather than inventing something new. Unicorn upstarts like Jellysmack and Cameo have contracted in the last few years after scoring large valuations. Other startups built around creators, like merchandise brand Spring, have sold off assets after repeated rounds of layoffs.

Creator ads are really just a different form of traditional marketing. Being attached to a well-established industry backed by billions of dollars in existing spending has helped it hold steady amid industry headwinds. As TikTok and YouTube have grabbed attention away from TV and traditional media, ad spending has followed.

“Advertising dollars are starting to catch up with eyeballs,” Lugrin said.

Goldman Sachs analysts forecasted in April 2023 that influencer marketing and creator advertising would help grow the creator economy to a $480 billion industry by 2027.

“The analysts expect spending on influencer marketing and platform payouts fueled by the monetization of short-form video platforms via advertising to be the primary growth drivers of the creator economy,” the company wrote.

While many parts of influencer marketing still need to be ironed out, such as standard rates for deals, it is no longer the Wild West that many ad agencies once relegated to test campaigns.

The sector has professionalized, said Ed East, global CEO and cofounder of Billion Dollar Boy.

“It’s been a steady climb over the past decade but, over the past year and a half specifically, the growth has rapidly accelerated,” he said.